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your measures as to diminish it as much as possible.

We come now to consider the particular measures to be adopted in giving
instruction.

The objects which are to be secured in the management of the classes
are twofold:

1. Recitation. 2. Instruction.

These two objects are, it is plain, entirely distinct. Under the latter
is included all the explanation, and assistance, and additional
information which the teacher may give his pupils, and under the former,
such an _examination_ of individuals as is necessary to secure their
careful attention to their lessons. It is unsafe to neglect either of
these points. If the class meetings are mere _recitations_, they soon
become dull and mechanical; the pupils generally take little interest in
their studies, and imbibe no literary spirit. Their intellectual
progress will, accordingly, suddenly cease the moment they leave school,
and so cease to be called upon to recite lessons. On the other hand, if
_instruction_ is all that is aimed at, and _recitation_ (by which I
mean, as above explained, such an examination of individuals as is
necessary to ascertain that they have faithfully performed the tasks
assigned) is neglected, the exercise soon becomes not much more than a
lecture, to which those, and those only, will attend who please.

The business, therefore, of a thorough examination of the class must not
be omitted. I do not mean that each individual scholar must every day be
examined, but simply that the teacher must, in some way or other,


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